Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda (16 January 1980-) was an American composer, lyricist, playwright, singer, and actor from New York City. Born in Inwood, Manhattan in 1980, the son of Puerto Rican parents (his father was an advisor to Democratic mayor Ed Koch), Miranda wrote jingles as a child, and one of them was used for Eliot Spitzer's 2006 gubernatorial campaign. He fell in love with Broadway musicals and plays and developed a passion for theatre, and his play In the Heights premiered on Broadway in 2008, becoming a huge success; he won the Tony Award for Best Original Score, while the show won two other Tonys. In August 2015, his most famous work, Hamilton: An American Musical, became known as one of the greatest musicals of all time, selling out for years in advance and being nominated for a record-setting 16 Tony Awards (winning 11), spawning a pop culture phenomenon, and topping the Billboard Top Rap Albums chart for ten weeks. Miranda himself starred in the role of Alexander Hamilton, the play's protagonist, and the success of the musical helped to preserve Hamilton's status as the face of the $10 bill. Miranda would continue to have acting and songwriting successes in the film industry, including for Star Wars, Moana, and Mary Poppins Returns.

Miranda was also known for his political activism. The son of a Democratic advisor to the Mayor of New York City, Miranda supported diversity, and he ensured that his play Hamilton was "the story of America then, told by America now" (employing mostly Hispanic, African-American, and Asian actors and actresses). He also spoke in favor of debt relief for Puerto Rico, raising funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017. He also performed at the March for Our Lives gun control rally in Washington DC on 24 March 2018.